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NEWSMAKER-Oxford academic battles the British banks

Published 04/10/2011, 09:31 AM
Updated 04/10/2011, 09:36 AM

* Head of All Souls College, Oxford

* Regulation and competition expert, ex Bank of England

* Oversaw 2003 fine on soccer club Manchester Utd

* Scrapped All Souls "one-word" essay test

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - The future of Britain's powerful banking industry is being scrutinised by one of Oxford University's most prestigious professors.

On Monday, Sir John Vickers will present the interim report of the Independent Commission on Banking - a body set up by the government to examine the reform of British banks after they got badly burnt during the credit crisis.

The bespectacled academic, who turns 53 this year, is currently head of All Souls -- the imposing Oxford college which only accepts those with top first-class degrees.

The interim report, which is likely to back "ring-fencing" retail banks from risky trading operations to protect ordinary savers, will precede a definitive report in September.

British Finance Minister George Osborne will then examine Vickers' proposals but the April interim report could be key.

For much of the last year, Vickers has travelled back and forth from Oxford to the ICB's small offices in London's Victoria House, an art-deco edifice from the 1920s.

The Vickers report may become as historic a date for British banking as October 1986, when the "Big Bang" move to deregulate the sector ushered in "universal banks" offering everything from complex trading to mortgages and ordinary savings products.

While the Vickers' commission is not expected to seek a full break-up of these "universal banks", it is likely to ask companies to set up separate subsidiaries for investment and retail banking.

Vickers grew up in the southern England seaside town of Eastbourne. He attended Eastbourne Grammar School, where his academic excellence took him to Oxford University's Oriel College.

At Oriel, Vickers got a first-class degree in PPE - a course in politics, philosophy and economics pursued by countless British businessmen and politicians, such as current prime minister David Cameron.

He briefly worked as a financial analyst for oil major Shell for two years before returning to academia.

Vickers held various teaching posts at Oxford, as well as visiting positions at America's Harvard and Princeton universities, before joining the Bank of England in 1998.

At the Bank of England, Vickers was considered by analysts to be one of the more "hawkish" members of the interest-rate setting Monetary Policy Committee -- warning about inflation and pushing for higher interest rates in 2000.

FINING MANCHESTER UNITED

Vickers left the Bank of England in 2000 for Britain's Office of Fair Trading, a regulatory body dealing with protecting consumers and tackling industry competition issues.

At the OFT, Vickers presided over investigations into a variety of sectors, included a 2003 probe into sportswear which culminated in a 1.65 million pound ($2.70 million) fine for Manchester United for fixing the prices of soccer kits.

In 2005, Vickers also oversaw a price-fixing fine on British retailer GUS and asked the UK's Competition Commission to probe proposed bids for the London Stock Exchange.

And in 2010, Vickers reformed the All Souls entrance exam, dubbed by some as the "hardest exam in the world", deciding that candidates would no longer have to write an essay based around one single word.

"As with all these things, people have different opinions and, like others, I feel regret when something that has been going on for so many years ends. But I believe this is the right decision," he said at the time. ($1=.6103 Pound) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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